11/18/12

Undermining the Law

The last time I attempted to critique a
Perry Mason mystery, The Case of the Empty Tin (1941), I ended up
churning out an elongated synopsis of the plot, but only because they’re
complex, plot-driven stories and discussing them past the first quarter of the
book without giving anything away is very difficult. No – it's nigh impossible
to do!

The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1943) poses a similar problem, in which Perry Mason takes on a
case with enough angles to fill a small, bedside book stand – except that it's
crammed between the covers of a single paperback. It all begins when "Salty"
Bowers, who has the appearance of a distinguished tramp in a sun-faded suit,
asks Mason to meet his long-time friend and mining partner, Banning Clarke, who
was physically unable to come himself after suffering a heart attack. Upon meeting
Clarke, the plot thickens... considerably!

Living and recuperating on the stretch of
land behind his house, amidst the cactuses and shrubs, the mining engineer asks
Mason to intervene in a scheme involving his mining company (and a legendary
gold mine lost in the mists of time) and take on a fraud case that he's bound
to lose, but these are just but a few threads in the rich tapestry of this plot.

Clark's in-laws, Lillian and her son
James Bradisson, a cocksure and conceited president of the mining corporation,
who fancies himself a business genius, become sick from arsenic poisoning.
Live-in nurse Velma Starler is shot at by a prowler and hears the drowsy
mosquito. Even Mason and his secretary Della Street are poisoned! The poisoning subplot is
worked out alongside the other problems, intertwining here and there, showing
that Agatha Christie wasn't the only name in the game that knew how to properly
utilize that stuff. As a matter of fact, these poisonings could've easily been
presented as impossible situations to beef up the plot even further, but then
again, that might have been overdoing it just a bit. But it's cleverly done and
even provides an interesting legal problem when Banning Clarke is murdered when
he was already minutes, perhaps even seconds, away from succumbing to a lethal
dose of arsenic poison. So who do you charge with murder? The person who
administrated the arsenic or the person who pulled the trigger?

Like in the previous case I reviewed,
Perry Mason functions more as a slick, manipulative private detective than as a
crafty attorney with a penchant for courtroom theatrics, however, we do get a
glimpse of the courtroom technician in the fraud case – turning the tables on
everyone and takes James Bradisson and his lawyer down a peg or two.

But the most notable aspect of The
Case of the Drowsy Mosquito is the desert setting and how the plot is build
upon it. Somehow, it reminded me of one of Gardner's Sheriff Bill Eldon
stories, "The Case of the Runaway Blonde," collected in Two Clues
(1947), set outdoors and the vast expanse of ground are very important to
the plot, but for completely different reasons. In another way, it also
reminded me Clyde B. Clason's Blind Drifts (1937), which also involves "shenanigans" within a gold mining company, but where Clason was interested in technical side of the business, Gardner only concerned himself with the legal aspects of it.

All in all, an excellent read and The Passing Tramp should consider packing a few Perry Masons in that red handkerchief of his,
because they've got enough plot on their spines to keep any mystery fan from feeling hungry.

1 comment:

One thing I do say about Drowsy Mosquito is that it articulates Gardner's own personal philosophy about the desert and men. He truly felt that living open had enormous health benefits and encouraged everyone to live a less sheltered life in the open.

The Usual Suspect

An Elementary Observation

Welcome to the niche corner, dedicated to the great detective stories of yore and their neo-classical descendants.

Witnesses' Statements

"It's my job to fan the fires of your imagination with tales of doom and gloom; right now I have another chilling tale for you. A tale of danger and mystery..."- Vincent Price (Grandmaster of the Macabre)."The detectives who explain miracles, even more than their colleagues who clarify more secular matters, play the Promethean role of asserting man's intellect and inventiveness even against the Gods."- Anthony Boucher.

"I like my murders to be frequent, gory, and grotesque. I like some vividness of colour and imagination flashing out of my plot, since I cannot find a story enthralling solely on the grounds that it sounds as though it might really have happened. I do not care to hear the hum of everyday life; I much prefer to hear the chuckle of the great Hanaud or the deadly bells of Fenchurch St Paul."- Dr. Gideon Fell (telling it like it is since 1933).